I know it's a big story, but does everyone really think this will make him completely fall off everyone's draft radar? I refuse to believe that he's going undrafted, especially with Kiper having him going top 10 at 4pm today before this broke.

You're crazy if you think this whole hoax-of-a-dead-gf thing is going to drop him out of the first round. Burfict went from stud to bust because he got fat and did everything possible to blow his opportunity at the combine and ASU pro-day

Bengals lose Saturday the 5th. ND loses Monday the 7th. This shit comes out today. As a Bengals fan and an ND grad my balls can't take many more swift kicks. If Joey Votto ends up having another set back with his knee I may just get a vasectomy.

Yep. I was at the UC Sugar Bowl in 2009. The first year i followed UC football closely. That fat asshole left us and we got raped by Florida. Fucking Irish. Karma came back this year though, in the form of a Crimson Tide.
I've hated ND and Florida since then.
/endrant

I think the poor guy made a mistake. From what I have read, he is probably a closeted homosexual hiding from his Morman family. He chose a school far enough away to avoid them, but religious enough to hide from their questions, and he invented a girlfriend who was actually a guy he had a history with to keep their curiosity down as well. I think he will get drafted fairly early, though he might have to explain his side of the story to some interested parties at the combine

Then good for him. He's an idiot, yeah. But maybe a huge turnaround on a solid NFL team (Bengals perhaps) could do him a large amount of good, both for his athletic career and public image. Honestly, imagine the pundits talking about how he spun the whole story because he was to afraid to come out, and how that would reverberate around the nation.

I'm still confused about the whole Manti situation. I've been out of the loop for a couple weeks, sports wise. So, is he using this situation as an excuse for his poor performance in the BCS final? Why does anyone care? Why would this have any influence on draft position?

To answer your initial question: Manti told the public early in the season that his "girlfriend" had died of leukemia not long after his grandma died. This motivated his team and himself to a undefeated season leading them to the BCS Championship. After some investigation it got discovered that this girl he was "dating" was made up. It is inconclusive if he was in on it or if he actually thought he was dating this girl he met on the internet. People care because it degrades a famous person and that's how the media works. And it won't influence his draft position, OP was making a joke that I don't think many people on this thread got. Hope that answered your questions!